Big Pharm Flu Scare Season Goes Into Overdrive…

Each year seems to hit a new level of hype surrounding the seasonal flu. The pharmaceutical-media complex is drooling over the latest “outbreak,” which has resulted in Boston declaring a “Health Emergency” and New York reaching epidemic proportions. Additionally, nurses are being denied the right to refuse flu vaccinations, even on religious grounds, and are being fired for any resistance.

However, fine details are normally not the strong suit of corporate media, so that is where we must look before we decide to go into full-blown panic mode and start lining up to get jabbed with the latest vaccine concoction. For instance, people are still getting sick and are dying even after getting the flu shot.

As even the Associated Press was forced to highlight:

Recent studies have shown that the flu vaccine as a whole is only about 59 percent effective at preventing the illness. NRP pointed out that the vaccine appears to be less effective for the elderly, which is a population often highly encouraged to receive the shot in the first place. (Source)

Perhaps one reason for the ineffectiveness of this year’s vaccine is that the most virulent strain of H3N2v is not included in the vaccine.

The increasing hype over a flu season that turns into a possible pandemic has terrorized a significant part of the population. This is important to keep in mind, as the CDC often reports the increased numbers of visits to doctors and hospitals based on “flu-like symptoms.” People who are on edge about contracting a life-threatening virus are likely to interpret every ache, pain, and sniffle into the most dreaded of possibilities after being bombarded by an onslaught of media reports.

Major media continues to support the flu shot, because, as CNN’s Sanjay Gupta states, “It’s better than nothing.” Sounds like a fine slogan for any product. The fact is that the Centers for Disease Control only has estimates of the numbers of deaths that occur each year from the flu. Their reasoning for not having exact figures is stated as follows:

CDC does not know exactly how many people die from seasonal flu each year. There are several reasons for this. First, states are not required to report individual seasonal flu cases or deaths of people older than 18 years of age to CDC. Second, seasonal influenza is infrequently listed on death certificates of people who die from flu-related complications. Third, many seasonal flu-related deaths occur one or two weeks after a person’s initial infection, either because the person may develop a secondary bacterial co-infection (such as bacterial pneumonia) or because seasonal influenza can aggravate an existing chronic illness (such as congestive heart failure or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Also, most people who die from seasonal flu-related complications are not tested for flu, or they seek medical care later in their illness when seasonal influenza can no longer be detected from respiratory samples. (Source)

The range of flu deaths as provided by the CDC over a roughly 30-year period has been 3,000-49,000 annually. We must also keep in mind that these are categorized as “flu-related deaths” which include those who had other serious or life-threatening illnesses and might have been pushed over the edge by contracting the seasonal flu.

Naturally the corporate media has been reporting that this year looks to be the worst ever. However, the CDC itself has said that this year looks to be within the normal range.

A greater concern for the health of Americans should be declining nutritional values, as well as an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, coupled with every imaginable food and environmental toxin; these elements contribute to far more sickness and death.

In fact, a recent study found that the average child is now chronically sick, and that vaccines themselves appear to be a contributing factor.

Overall, the study reported that 43% of children suffer from at least one of the 20 conditions considered—when obesity and developmental delays are not included. That is is over 32 million children whose health is damaged! (emphasis added)

And if you want to go down the rabbit hole about a possible over-arching agenda for the peddling of vaccines, please have a look at Catherine J. Frompovich’s article about vaccine taxes funding the U.S. deficit.

With so many corporate and governmental interests riding the wave of flu hysteria, it pays to keep a very healthy skepticism.
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2 Comments

I think it is pretty clear from the record of what I have written about the so called health care system in the US that I am prepared to defend any part of it. Everything in the US that involves the possibility money being diverted into a tiny minority of the population is totally corrupt and fraudulent and all “information” readily available about it is equally fraudulent. At one point in my life I actually thought that the criminal system would leave health care alone. I am that old. So I can not be lured into defending any part of what happens in the US in the name of health, particularly in the area of public health.

That said, this crazy fully corrupt environment creates a great opportunity for illogical, biased and evidence free opinion. I would suggest that folks avoid any discussion of medicine in the US in any attempt to understand medical practice. Of course this fully corrupt environment makes that a little hard by limiting access to relevant information about medical practice elsewhere. And all the while health statistics for the US continue to fall like a stone.

National Research Council
Institute of Medicine
January 2013
U.S. Health in International Perspective: Shorter Lives, Poorer Health

The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is far from the healthiest. Although Americans’ life expectancy and health have improved over the past century, these gains have lagged behind those of other high-income countries. This health disadvantage prevails even though the United states spends far more per person on health care than any other nation.

To gain a better understanding of this problem, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) asked the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine to convene a panel of experts to investigate potential reasons for the U.S. health disadvantage and to assess larger implications. The panel’s findings are detailed in its report, U.S. Health in International Perspective: Shorter Lives, Poorer Health.

The panel was struck by the gravity of its findings. For many years, Americans have been dying at younger ages than people in almost all other high-income countries. This disadvantage has been getting worse for three decades, especially among women.

When compared with the average of peer countries, Americans as a group fare worse in at least nine health areas:

* infant mortality and low birth weight

* injuries and homicides

* adolescent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections

* HIV and AIDS

* drug-related deaths

* obesity and diabetes

* heart disease

* chronic lung disease

* disability

Many of these conditions have a particularly profound effect on young people, reducing the odds that Americans will live to age 50. And for those who reach age 50, these conditions contribute to poorer health and greater illness later in life.

The United States does enjoy a few health advantages when compared with peer countries, including lower cancer death rates and greater control of blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Americans who reach age 75 can expect to live longer than people in the peer countries. With these exceptions, however, other high-income countries outrank the United States on most measures.

Why are Americans so unhealthy?

The panel’s inquiry found multiple likely explanations for the U.S. health disadvantage:

* Health systems. Unlike its peer countries, the United States has a relatively large uninsured population and more limited access to primary care. Americans are more likely to find their health care inaccessible or unaffordable and to report lapses in the quality and safety of care outside of hospitals.

* Health behaviors. Although Americans are currently less likely to smoke and may drink alcohol less heavily than people in peer countries, they consume the most calories per person, have higher rates of drug abuse, are less likely to use seat belts, are involved in more traffic accidents that involve alcohol, and are more likely to use firearms in acts of violence.

* Social and economic conditions. Although the income of Americans is higher on average than in other countries, the United States also has higher levels of poverty (especially child poverty) and income inequality and lower rates of social mobility. Other countries are outpacing the United States in the education of young people, which also affects health. And Americans benefit less from safety net programs that can buffer the negative health effects of poverty and other social disadvantages.

* Physical environments. U.S. communities and the built environment are more likely than those in peer countries to be designed around automobiles, and this may discourage physical activity and contribute to obesity.

The tragedy is not that the United States is losing a contest with other countries, but that Americans are dying and suffering from illness and injury at rates that are demonstrably unnecessary. Superior health outcomes in other nations show that Americans can also enjoy better health.

Do not look to local sources for accuracy and wisdom because of this conflagration of lies that is occurring in the US. As a rule of thumb it is best to reject both sides of any argument regarding health care in the US originating in the US. Cuba uses flu vaccines (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0531513104008076).

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